Jade’s life-changing op an Irish first

On Monday an Irish teenager begins chemotherapy ahead of a life-changing stem cell operation later this month.

In an Irish medical first, Jade Whelan, 13, from Ballymurn, Co Wexford, will undergo the bone marrow transplant in a bid to cure her worsening illness.

The Ballymurn NS sixth-class pupil has suffered from arthritis since birth and has been treated in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.